The Rhinos of the C.A. Spinage The Bungalow, Steventon Road, East Hanney, Wantage, OX12 OHS, England

Probably the least-known country in Africa today, with large areas hunter who went out to Tchad at the age of eighteen and is cred- of savanna woodland still unexplored, the Central African Republic ited with killing over a hundred black rhino on the Aouk River) in- has been thought, until recent times, to harbour the two genera of formed M. Lefol that he had also shot about a dozen white rhino in African rhinoceroses: Ceratotherium simum cottoni, the north- this region, on the Doseo, Mya and Keita tributaries, probably about ern white rhino; and Diceros bicornis longipes, the West African 1936/7 (Lefol, pers .comm. 1985). This report extends the range of black rhino. Despite the belief in the presence of the white rhino, the white rhino 135 km further west than that indicated by Lavauden. few specimens are known to have been collected in the country, Furthermore, if the pair of horns which Denham and Clapperton and records of its former occurence are rare. brought back from the southeast of Lake Tchad in 1824 (Malbrant, In 1932, M. Lavauden, the French Conservator responsible for cen- 1952; Bovill, 1966) are indeed those of a white rhino from Gaulfey tral and western Africa, summarised some of the information con- (latitude 12˚ 25’N, longitude 1 4 50’ E), then the range clearly ex- cerning the occurrence of the northern white rhino. This suggested tended even further west in this region. Denham recorded the white that its range extended from just north of Lake Albert in Uganda, rhino to be’“by no means common here” (Bovill, 1966); but”it seems northwest along the border between the Sudan and the Central likely that these horns are those of the black rhino, the base being African Republic (formerly Oubangui-Chari), as far as Goz Beida in round. Tchad (Figure 1). In 1927, the French Commission SupÈrieur de la The former hunting inspector AndrÈ FÈlix is alleged to have shot a Chasse was informed that the white rhino no longer existed in French white rhino between 1920-36 near Badia, which is on the Sudanese territories (but then, somewhat illogically, t was given absolute pro- border to the east of the park which bears his name. The reason tection by a law dated 25 August 1929) (Lavauden, 1934). why the rhino shot by Cannone and AndrÈ FÈlix are not on record is However, in 1927 the British Sudan border post at DjÈnÈnÈ seized a presumably because the animal was theoretically protected by law. larger number of white rhino horns alleged to have come from Tchad, It seems to have been Blancou (1952) who originated the story of which were probably the 150 which Guy Babault saw in Khartoum the possible survival of the white rhino in the Central African Repub- and which were reported as originating from Abecher (Lavauden, lic. He thought that the last survivors in Tchad and the north of the 1934). Central African Republic had been shot about 1935, but that there Malbrant (1952) records seeing horns of this genus in the hands of was a faint chance a few might survive in the east, along the Suda- merchants at in 1933, and three years earlier apparently saw nese frontier, from near the sources of the Kotto River southwards. one on the Aouk to the north of Birao (Malbrant, 1930). Lavauden Jeannin (1951) wrote that the Goz Sassoulko National Park “in Chad” (1932) considered that there was no doubt that small numbers of harboured 80 white rhino. Although this area was originally a part white rhino existed at that time southeast of Abecher in the region of of Tchad, at independence it became part of the Central African Goz Beida; further, a museum horn of this genus comes from east of Republic; but the “park” was de-gazetted to a reserve in 1940, and Mangueigne in Tchad. Lavauden also supposed that the rhino to the in 1960 the greater part was entirely de-gazetted, leaving the west- 2 northeast and east of was the white, and in 1934 he noted a ern part of 3 300 km as the Aouk-Aoukale Faunal Reserve. Blancou white rhino killed northwest of (Lavauden, 1934). (1948) was convinced, however, that all rhino had been extermi- nated there before 1939, and that the species to the southeast and Lavauden’s map has for long been taken as representing the distri- south of the region (where some did still exist in 1981) was the bution of the northern white rhino, but may not be entirely accu- black rhino. Gromier (1941) wrote that he saw horns of the white rate. Shortly before his death in 1979, M. Etienne Cannone (a French variety from Birao in 1931, and that a few years before 1941 he had seen several from the region. He considered the white rhino to be probably extinct, although there were reports at that time that it still existed at Lake Mamoun, and between the Ouandjia and Vakaga Rivers. The Hunting Inspector, who was known under the pen-name of Saint-Floris, aptly summed it all up by calling the white rhino “the Loch Ness monster of French Equatorial Africa” (Gromier, 1941). But old stories die hard, and when I came to the Central African Republic in 1974 it was Still thought that the white rhino might exist in the Zemongo Faunal Reserve. Jan Rugsten claims to have made two sightings of white rhino, possibly both of the same ani- mal, on the upper Ouarra River (Figure 2) in 1974 at about latitude 06˚ 10’N, longitude 26˚ 00’E (Rugsten, pers. comm.), but all other reports of rhino in this area have been of the black rhino. In view of the uncertainty, why should it be supposed that the animal might still exist in the Zemongo Reserve? The basic reason is that the wild- life resources of this 10 100 km2 area (first gazetted as a hunting reserve in 1925 and Upgraded to a faunal reserve in 1940) have never been surveyed. The reserve remains today the least-known part of the Central African Republic; part of a vast, uninhabited wilderness extending along almost the entire border with the Su- dan. In the latter part of the 19th century parts of this area were Figure 1. The distribution of the northern white rhinoceros, after probably well-inhabited, until the dervishes from the Sudan de- Lavauden (1932), with additions. scended the Vovodo River about 1883 to pillage the country. 10 Further pillaging probably took place about 1902 under the slave- which no European has yet traversed. One person is known to have raiding armies of Senoussi, who had his headquarters at NdÈlÈ (where ventured 30 km inside the reserve along the Bita River, and Rugsten one of his descendants occupied the position of sultan until 1985). (pers. comm.) went about a third of the way up this river in the 1 In 1909-10, sleeping-sickness delivered the final, devastating blow, 960’s, hunting crocodiles; but these limited expeditions did not yield from which the area has never recovered. information on white rhino. The picture has now changed in any case, for the search for ivory in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s has motivated large Sudanese gangs’— equipped with automatic weapons—— to penetrate the eastern part of the country with donkey and camel trains. These poachers may have covered the Zemongo area as well as they have covered the surrounding regions. Alternatively, since is such a large area, and much of it without water in the dry season, they may not have ventured too far from traditional routes. About 1981 there was a report of a white rhino being seen near Golongosso in the north of the country, near the Aouk River, in an area which has been fairly intensively hunted in recent years and which is known to have contained black rhino (I saw rhino tracks there in 1976 but did not examine them closely). The report ema- nated from an American tourist-hunter and his Portuguese guide, both of whom had probably never seen a rhino before. Investiga- tion showed the report to be unreliable, and there seems to be little doubt that they saw a black rhino. The tourist allegedly photographed it, but the photograph has never been produced. The famous elephant hunter, Karamoja Bell, hunted this area along the Aouk about 1919 and reported rhino (among other species) as being numerous: “. . .I will ... merely remark on the extraordinary numbers of rhino we met.., on several occasions our boys got into trouble with them and they had to be shot in order to avoid acci- dents” (Bell, 1960). Since Bell was capable of identifying white rhino, and in his book specifically refers to seeing them in the Lado En- clave, he probably would have made it clear that the rhino along the Aouk were white if this was the case. We know from Cannone Figure 2. Movements of early visitors to the Zemongo Reserve. that some did exist there, but they seem to have been relatively Lupton, c.1882; Junker, 1883; Ebener-Martin, 1909-10; and white uncommon and are only reported from the Tchadian side. Unfortu- rhino sighting of Rugsten, 1974. nately, the recent report from Golongosso has found its way into the literature (Anon, 1983; Western and Vigne, 1984; 1985); it is The first European to visit the region appears to have been an English- certainly nonsense to suggest that there may be a “reasonable” man, Frank Lupton (governor of the Bahr el Ghazal Province of the population in this area, as the first of these references postulates. Sudan) in about 1882. But he only crossed the southwest extremity The last black rhino to the north of the Aouk River (near to the Bahr (Figure 2) as did the explorer Junker, in 1883. In 1909-10, a French Tao, Keita and Midjik Rivers in Tchad) were seen by hunters in 1978; military detachment explored part of the area. From the former village and Lefol (pers.comm.) records seeing the last tracks of one on the of Zemongo, one of the team, M. Ebener, crossed the Vovodo River Golongosso side in 1983 (near Gaskay, 25 km south of Golongosso). which forms the western boundary of the present reserve, and fol- The black rhino once ranged westwards in Africa almost to the bor- lowed the east bank from Mount Meringuet to the village of Ano (= ders of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta), about 75 km southeast Ango?); he then re-crossed the Vovodo and continued south. Ebener, of Niamey in Niger. Barth (1857-8) reported: “Here again the foot- in Martin (1913), records that there was a route from Rafai, along the prints of the elephant were extremely numerous; but by far more Vovodo to Mount Meringuet, where it branched to Raga and Dem interesting, and of much higher importance to me, were the traces Zubeir. This was used mostly by Greek and Syrian ivory traders. of the rhinoceros, an animal which at present seems to be wanting The only reference to rhino in this account concerns their presence entirely in the regions between the Niger on the wet and the Shari on the banks of the Boulou River, about 120 km to the northwest of towards the east.” But today the black rhino is extinct west of Cam- Zemongo (Martin, 1913). The next visit seems to have been that of eroun, and the last stronghold was, until 1961, the Central African the Anglo-French boundary survey at the beginning of 1922, which Republic. Before this date, it seems to have been distributed thinly traced the northeast boundary. Grassard (1925), the French mission throughout the area of the Republic east of about 1 9 between leader, reports that some rhino tracks were shown to the team, but latitudes 07 to about 10 in the east extending south to 06 (Figure they were rare. He does not say where this was along the border 3). The highest density of black rhino in those areas which were with Sudan, but mentions that the Karas knew certain points be- explored .was in the -Bangoran National Park (an area of tween Birao and NdÈlÈ where they were sure to find rhino. This is 11 560 km2 gazetted in 1933) and in a region of 1 400 km2 immedi- the area where the black rhino has been known to exist in recent ately to the east. Although Corfield and Hamilton (1971) reported times. Comyn (1911) reported the white rhino as “pretty numer- finding only some old tracks in the park, they spent but a brief time ous” in the Sudan, northeast of Raga and about 210 km from the in the fringe areas; they did report the rhino as common in the 860 Zemongo Reserve. Christie (1924) said that white rhino were nu- km2 Vassako-Bolo Strict Nature Reserve (which is in the centre) al- merous in 1916 on the Congo side of the River, about 220 though no reason is given for this. When I started studies in the km south of the Zemongo Reserve. Bamingui-Bangoran National Park in 1976, it soon became appar- Thus it was reasonable to suppose that, if the white rhino had sur- ent to me, based upon experience that I had gained in the Kenya vived, then might be in the vast, unknown Zemongo wilderness, Aberdares and other rhino areas of East Africa, that rhino were 11 Figure 3. The former distribution of the black rhinoceros in the Central African Republic. Dense shading = known area of concentration. reasonably abundant. There were snortings outside the tent at night, workers were tree’d, and a rhino came into the game guard students’ camp at night. Figure 4 shows plots of some of the fresh tracks and scrapes that I came across. Actual sightings were not common because of the nature of the sudano-guinean wood- land, which makes it much more difficult to spot animals than is the case in the more open vegetation of eastern Africa. In other parts of the country, where the signs were much rarer, one must pre- sume that there must still have been a sufficient density of black rhino to permit breeding contacts to take place (unless, of course, the rhino were already dying out). Air surveys of the Bamingui-Bangoran Park, conducted by FAO in August 1977, reported a calculated total of 170+/- 70 (Spinage et al., 1977); but in view of the relatively dense vegetation and the fact that the survey was flown with a low-wing aircraft at 200 kph, I consider, from my ground contacts, that the real total was prob- ably closer to 600 (a density of 0.05 rhino km2). Subsequent counts conducted in the area to the east of the park, where the density was thought to be high, suggested a population of 60+/-20 (IUCN, 1981), or a density of 0.04 rhino km2. To this we must add the fact that the rhino occurred at a lesser density over some 170 000 km2; so assuming this density to be, say, one quarter of that in the centre of concentration (equivalent to 150 in the park), we arrive at a pos- Figure 4. Some fresh rhino tracks and scrapes seen in the Bamingui- sible total of 2 125 for the rest of the country. Adding to this those Bangoran National Park, 1980-81. T = track or scrape; R= 2 rhinos in the park and the adjacent area, and rounding off, I suggested sighted; D = dead rhino (young one died in mud in dry season). that there might be 3 000 in the whole country in 1981. Subse- quent studies in the Manovo-Gounda-Saint Floris area to the north of the Bamingui-Bangoran area revealed a much higher density than had been supposed: about 0.03 rhino km 2 in the 770 km2 study area (Hulberg and Carroll, 1982). Thus I am reasonably confident of my somewhat tenuous extrapolation, considering that the vast area concerned was for the most part almost completely unknown bio- 12 logically. However an alternative total of 440 has been proposed London. (IUCN, 1981) based upon a 1953 guess of 400 (Sidney, 1965), COMYN, D.C.E.ff. (1911). Service and Sport in the Sudan. The Bodley when the country was even less known that it is today. Whatever Head, London. the true total may have been, it has undoubtedly been greatly CORFIELD, T.F. and HAMILTON, P.H. (1971). The Conservation and reduced since the beginning of 1982. Management of Wildlife in Central Africa. The Cambridge Cen- During an air survey conducted in May-June 1985 by FAO/IUCN, no tral Africa Project 1969-1970, Nairobi, mimeo. rhino were seen from the air, despite an intensive survey at 15% GROMIER, E. (1941). La Vie des Animaux Sauvages du Chari Orien- coverage of the former high-concentration area to the east of the tal. Payot, Paris. Bamingui-Bangoran Park. Tracks seen at the beginning of 1985 show GROVES, C.P. (1967). Geographic variation in the black rhinocreros that the odd animal still exists in the southeast of the Manovo- Diceros bicornis (L., 1758). Z. Saugetierkunde, 32: 267-276. Gounda-Saint Floris Park, and in the hunting sector near Ouanda GRASSARD, Lt. Col. (1925). Mission de DÈlimitation de ‘Afrique DjallÈ, and rhino probably still exist in the Bamingui-Bangoran area. Equatoriale Francaise et du Soudan Anglo-Egyptien. Librairie Emile But it is feared that the species will become extinct in the Central Larose, Paris. African Republic in 1986, as the intensity of poaching by Sudanese HULBERT, R.B. and CARROLL, R.W. (1982). Wildlife Research in horsemen, primarily in search of ivory, is at a level that can only be Manovo-Gounda-Saint Floris National Park, Central African Re- termed anarchic. public 1979-1981. US Peace Corps, Mimeo. I have recently (1985) had the opportunity to measure the skulls of IUCN (1981). African rhino group action plan for the conservation three adult black rhino from Bamingui and one from the Manovo- of African rhinos. Mimeo. Gounda-Saint Floris region; and found the measurements to be closer JEANNIN, A. (1951). La Faune Africaine. Payot, Paris. to those of the Sudan race D.b. brucii, than they are to D.b. LAVAUDEN, L. (1932). Les rhinocÈros. La Terre et la Vie, No.9: 507- longipes. Thus it appears that the principal race in the Central Afri- 519. can Republic may have been the now very rare D.b. brucii, and not LAVAUDEN, L. (1934). Les Grands Animaux de Chasse de ‘Afrique D.b. longipes as Groves (1967) supposed; the Chari-Logone rivers Francaise. Societe d’Editions Geographiques, Maritimes et forming the dividing line between the eastern and western races, it Coloniales, Paris. is hoped that a more extensive sample of skulls can he measured to MALBRANT, R. (1930). Note sur les mammifËres du Tchad. Rev. verify this. d’Hist.nat. appliquees (nov.). MALBRANT, R. (1952). Faune du Centre Africain Francaise. Paul Lechevalier, Paris. REFERENCES MARTIN, M. (1913). Au Coeur de l‘Afrique Equatoriale. Librairie ANON. (1983). Reports confirm northern white rhino close to ex- Chapelot, Paris. tinction. African Elephant and Rhino Group Newsletter, No. 2:10. SIDNEY. J. (1965). The past and present distribution of some Afri- BARTH, H. (1857-8). Travels and Discoveries in North and Central can ungulates. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, Africa. 5 vols. Longmans, London. 30: 1- 397. BELL, W.D.M. (1960). Bell of Africa. Neville Spearman and the Hol- SPINAGE, C.A., LOEVINSOHN, M.E. and NDOUTE, J. (1977) Etudes land Press, London. Additionelles du Parc National Bamingui-Bangoran. FAO, Rome. BLANCOU, L. (1948). Quelques prÈcisions gÈographiques au sujet Mimeo. des ongulÈs. Mammalia, 12: 1-14. WESTERN, D. and VIGNE, L. (1984). The status of rhinos in Africa. BLANCOU, L. (1952). Notes on the black and white rhino in AEF. Pachyderm, No.4: 5-6. Sudan Wild Life, 2:16-17. WESTERN, D. and VIGNE,L. (1985). The status of rhinos in Africa. BOVILL, E.W. (1966). Missions to the Niger. Vol. III. The Bornu Mis- Swara 8, No.2: 10-12. sion 1822-25. Hakluyt Society. Cambridge. CHRISTIE, C.C. (1924). Big Game and Pygmies. MacMillan & Co.,

Rhino in the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park. 13